Shimadzu gears up to transform the Biopharma eco-space with industry leaders from across the world to‘Lead the Biopharma Revolution Together’

Shimadzu gears up to transform the Biopharma eco-space with industry leaders from across the world to‘Lead the Biopharma Revolution Together’

Biopharmaceuticals, or biologics as they are commonly called, are slowly replacing conventional pharmaceutical drugs and revolutionizing treatments of serious illnesses such as Cancer, Diabetes and Autoimmune Diseases. The efficacy and safety of biopharma, along with its capacity to treat previously untreatable illnesses, makes it very lucrative for the pharma industry.

Seven out of the top 10 selling drugs today are biologics. Furthermore, biopharma generates global revenues of approximately US$163 billion and account for over 20% of the overall pharmaceutical market. It is the fastest growing segment in the pharma industry, fueled by increased R&D spends and a number of patent expirations. However, biopharma also has its set of challenges like affordability, access, complex supply chain, compliance and regulatory hurdles which lead to huge losses. The 6th Shimadzu Global Pharma Summit 2017, offered key opinion leaders from the pharma industry to network, share and discuss strategies on the opportunities and challenges faced by biopharma today.

The Shimadzu Global Pharma Summit Series has been the flagship mega event of Shimadzu organised to cater to the top customers in the domain of pharma. The event, which started in 2007 and is currently in its 6th edition, focusses every year on different themes based on the most pertinent issues concerning the pharma industry. The event has transformed itself from being a regional APAC event to becoming truly global with speakers and participants pouring from all across the world. Every edition of the event witnessed illustrious industry leaders come together to network and brainstorm regarding ways to “Contribute to Society Through Science and Technology”.

The 6th Shimadzu Global Pharma Summit 2017, which was held from 15th to 17th November 2017, at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, saw participation from more than 200 key opinion leaders across over 100 organizations from 20 countries. The mega event saw reputed speakers with a wide range of domain expertise, speak on several crucial topics and areas such as drug development, analytical method standardization, comparability and biosimilarity assessment, drug delivery systems and regulatory compliance, among many others.

Mr Tetusya Tanigaki, Managing Director, Shimadzu (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, Singapore, mentioned that “Shimadzu’s mission is to enable the pharma and the Biopharma industry by providing platforms such as this to help foster cooperative partnerships and through our wide range of state-of-the-art technology solutions.”

Dr Teruhisa Ueda, President & CEO, Shimadzu Corporation, Japan, reiterated that ‘Excellence in Science’ is not only a motto but a way of life in the Shimadzu Family. He said, “With great achievements come the responsibility to always provide the best in innovation and technology. We are not only the longest serving analytical instrument manufacturer in the world for the past 143 years, but are also the only organization that can provide synergistic breakthroughs combining Analytical technologies with Medical innovations. This combined with our Nobel Prize winning innovations places us at a crucial position where we must enable our partners with Excellence in Science.”

Dr Paul W Barone, the Director of BioMAN and CAACB at MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation in the US, who was the Keynote speaker highlighted how multi-institutional collaboration can be leveraged in order to drive innovation, catalyze transformative change and enable the delivery of safe and effective biopharmaceuticals.

The keynote was followed by 3 sessions, featuring presentations by experts in the areas of: Opportunities & Challenges for Biopharma Innovators, Opportunities & Challenges for Biosimilars and Beyond the Pill; followed by a Grand Finale Panel Discussion on ‘Creating a Smarter Regulatory Pathway’. All the illustrious speakers and moderators provided a rich treasure trove of knowledge and deeper insights in to each of their expertise.

Key Opinion Leaders of the pharma and biopharma industry from over 100 organizations across 20 countries, formulating ground-breaking ideas at the 6th Shimadzu Global Pharma Summit.

For Team Shimadzu, successfully organizing an event of such massive proportions to enable the global biopharma and pharma industry has been a reward in itself for the past many years. All the participants showered numerous encomiums on the members of the Shimadzu family for everything ranging from the vast array of speakers to the wide range of the latest technologies and instruments showcased at the Biopharma Smart Lab. The most cherished moments of the event were when world-renowned Sand Artist, Mr Lawrence Tan, vividly described the journey of where Shimadzu has reached today and how it has transformed into such a global corporation, with his mesmerizing story telling using Sand.

While Dr Krishna Menon, Senior Science and Standards Liaison, Global Biologics, United States Pharmacopeia (USP), India, said that “Great speakers & excellent topics. The 6th Shimadzu Global Pharma Summit was an excellent in terms of learning innovative scientific ideas, exchanging information and networking. It was a great opportunity to know about successful collaborative efforts in science between industry and academia.”, Dr Alok Sharma, Assistant Director & Head, Analytical Development Lab, Biotech Division, Lupin Limited, India, highlighted that “The 6th Shimadzu Global Pharma Summit was an Excellent Experience. The arrangements and venue were absolutely good. It was truly a science- driven industrial event. Shimadzu should be proud to have such an excellent team. I congratulate each team member of Shimadzu and Spinco and Toshvin, who were instrumental in making seamless arrangements for guests from India.”.

The cherry on the cake was the live broadcast of the event on YouTube, which was viewed by customers and Shimadzu employees alike, from every nook and cranny of the world. Several participants were so awestruck by the grandeur of the event that they immediately expressed their wish to be featured not only as a participant but as the speaker for the next edition of the event.

Mr Prem Anand, Senior General Manager, Shimadzu (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, Singapore, who was also the Emcee of the event, concluded that, “Shimadzu is always committed to the global pharma and biopharma industry and will continue to partner with the customers to Lead the Biopharma Revolution Together.”

In continuation to nurturing the Biopharma community and create a future networking platform, Shimadzu has now created a dedicated online forum called the Shimadzu Pharma Innovation Crucible (www.facebook.com/ShimadzuPharmaIC) to facilitate the discussion of new ideas. Also, owing to the huge success of the event, Shimadzu would also be conducting the first-of-its-kind Shimadzu Global Pharma e-Summit in 2018 to cater to the Biopharma industry, true to its purpose to “Lead the Biopharma Revolution Together”.

About Shimadzu (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd
Shimadzu (Asia Pacific) is a subsidiary and the Asian headquarter of Shimadzu Corporation, which was founded in 1875 in Kyoto, Japan. The subsidiary was established in 1989 in Singapore as a distribution centre providing analytical solutions, scientific equipment, testing machines, balances and medical equipment to a wide range of laboratories. A fast paced growth of business in the region has seen the opening of 3 subsidiaries in India, Malaysia and the Philippines with application specialists, technical and sales engineers spreading across 18 countries throughout the region including, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Brunei. Additionally, the company operates via a wide and carefully selected network of local distributors in every country in the region.

The company's instruments are relied upon by researchers all across Asia from large multinational organisations to local academic research universities and a long list of local, state and central laboratories. Through adoption of scientific inventions and cutting-edge technologies, Shimadzu (Asia Pacific) provides its corporate clients with the highest quality in product standards and delivers excellent customer support services in accordance with its motto - ‘Excellence in Science’.